Thousands Of Metro Detroiters Still Coping Without Power

Douglas Phillips, Jr of Oak Park is still without power on Sunday. (WWJ/Beth Fisher)

OAK PARK (WWJ) – Thousands still don’t have power in metro Detroit following last week’s storms. A spokesman for DTE Energy tells WWJ Newsradio 950 that as of 5:30 Monday morning, there were still 5,500 homes and businesses in the dark.

UPDATE: As of 8:30 a.m., DTE says it’s making progress, and there are now 5,000 still without power.

Many homes in Oak Park and Ferndale are still waiting for the power to come back on; one of those that did get the lights back belongs to Don Colbert, who lives in Ferndale. But he doesn’t feel like he’s out of the woods yet.

“The refrigerator is empty right now, and I plan on keeping it that way at least for a couple more days because I lost too much food last year,” said Colbert.

Douglas Phillips Jr. began his fourth day without power at his Oak Park home and spoke with WWJ’s Beth Fisher about how he is coping.

“Hotel rooms, family, water. Trying to make sure no one is breaking in the home because the power is off. (We’re) taking food out that’s been spoiled,” said Phillips.

“As a matter of fact, in Oak Park, we lose our power a lot, any time there is a … severe storm comes through here, we are often without power for several days,” added Phillips.

He expresses frustration that the power remains out and says it happens somewhat often.

Sandy Elling of Ferndale has power now, but it was on and off on Saturday. “I’m feeling pretty confident right now … and the weather is much better so we can deal with it,” Elling said.

Many folks that WWJ spoke with said they would head to visit friends or family if left powerless again.